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Illegal consumer file sharing of motion pictures is considered a major threat to the movie industry. Whereas industry advocates and some scholars postulate a cannibalistic effect on commercial forms of movie consumption, other researchers deny this effect, though sound evidence is lacking on both sides. Drawing on extant research and utility theory, the authors present hypotheses on the consequences and determinants of consumer file sharing and test them with data from a controlled longitudinal panel study of German consumers. The data contain information on the consumers' intentions toward and actual behavior in relation to the consumption of 25 new motion pictures, allowing the authors to study more than 10,000 individual file-sharing opportunities. The authors test the effect of file sharing on commercial movie consumption using a series of ReLogit regression analyses and apply partial least squares structural equation modeling to identify the determinants of consumer file sharing. They find evidence of substantial cannibalization of theater visits, DVD rentals, and DVD purchases responsible for annual revenue losses of $300 million in Germany. Five categories of file-sharing behavior drive file sharing and have a significant impact on how consumers obtain and watch illegal movie copies.

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Movies and other media goods are traditionally distributed across distinct sequential channels (e.g., theaters, home video, video on demand). The optimality of the currently employed timing and order of channel openings has become a matter of contentious debate among both industry experts and marketing scholars. In this article, the authors present a model of revenue generation across four sequential distribution channels, combining choicebased conjoint data with other information. Drawing on stratified random samples for three major markets-namely, the United States, Japan, and Germany-and a total of 1770 consumers, the empirical results suggest that the studios that produce motion pictures can increase their revenues by up to 16.2% through sequential distribution chain timing and order changes when applying a common distribution model for all movies in a country and that revenue-optimizing structures differ strongly among countries. Under the conditions of the study, the authors find that the simultaneous release of movies in theaters and on rental home video generates maximum revenues for movie studios in the United States but has devastating effects on other players, such as theater chains. The authors discuss different scenarios and their implications for movie studios and other industry players, and barriers for the implementation of the revenue-maximizing distribution models are critically reflected.

Movies and other media goods are traditionally distributed across distinct sequential channels (e.g., theaters, home video, video on demand). The optimality of the currently employed timing and order of channel openings has become a matter of contentious debate among both industry experts and marketing scholars. In this article, the authors present a model of revenue generation across four sequential distribution channels, combining choice-based conjoint data with other information. Drawing on stratified random samples for three major markets—namely, the United States, Japan, and Germany—and a total of 1770 consumers, the empirical results suggest that the studios that produce motion pictures can increase their revenues by up to 16.2% through sequential distribution chain timing and order changes when applying a common distribution model for all movies in a country and that revenue-optimizing structures differ strongly among countries. Under the conditions of the study, the authors find that the simultaneous release of movies in theaters and on rental home video generates maximum revenues for movie studios in the United States but has devastating effects on other players, such as theater chains. The authors discuss different scenarios and their implications for movie studios and other industry players, and barriers for the implementation of the revenue-maximizing distribution models are critically reflected.

Over the past decade, research in consumer behavior has debated the role of emotion in consumer decision making intensively but has offered few attempts to integrate emotion‐related findings with established theoretical frameworks. This manuscript augments the classical expectancy‐value model of attitude with a dimensional model of emotion. An experiment involving 308 college students who face actual purchase decisions shows that predictions of attitudes, behavioral intentions, and actual behavior can be improved through the use of the augmented model for both hedonic and utilitarian products. The augmented model has theoretical implications for marketing scholars as well as practical uses for marketers.

In 2002, the third generation of the EU’s support programme for the European film industry, the MEDIA Plus Programme, was launched. Despite 12 years of integrated efforts, European cinema still does not seem to be able to compete with its American peers. This led us to question the effectiveness and strategy of MEDIA Plus. As we point out in our analysis, the present approach addresses the film industry’s symptoms rather than its problems. We draw the conclusion that the lines of action taken by MEDIA Plus may well have counterproductive outcomes as they are not designed to overcome the structural fragmentation that holds back the industry. Possible corrections to MEDIA’s strategy are then outlined.

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